Weird issue with milk....

Guys, please don't laugh at me - I'll try to explain this as best as I can!

Ollie is feeding more frequently than usual and is getting cranky at the breast. When he he does drink, he is only having noticeably short feeds and then either gets upset or just mucks around at the boob. I fully know that we're due for a growth spurt, so it might be related to that, but there's something odd happening with my milk.

It's like he's not getting to the hind milk and all I have is foremilk. I know that's not possible, but hear me out. :)

After Ollie has fed, and comes off, if I squeeze my nipple, I am just getting really watery looking milk. It looks different to the foremilk that I get at the beginning of a feed but nothing like the real creamy stuff I normally see after Ollie has come off. This happens even when Ollie has been drinking for quite some time and my boob is much softer, so the foremilk should be gone. It's even happening in the middle of the night feed where he drinks for quite a while.

It's like I am making trim milk! It also behaves physically different from normal - not squirty or flowing, just kind of dribbly. This is both straight after, and a long time after, a feed.

I am sure this is the reason for the fussiness we're having at the moment. It's happening on both sides and has no symptoms of blocked ducts or mastitis etc.

Any ideas? Could it be something I ate? A supply issue? It's so different to what I have seen for the last 12 weeks that I am quite perplexed.

Maybe it's just changing as he gets older, and happens to be coinciding with some fussiness (which has some other, unknown, reason lol)??

Or doesn't milk get more watery in hot weather or something?

Or...are you eating enough and not exercising too much?

I don't really have any idea what I'm talking about lol, these are just some ideas that popped into my head

Hmm your milk can change for heaps of reasons. It might just be that his needs are different and he needs longer feeds less often. You could even offer the same breast to him twice in a row to make sure he's getting all of it before switching.
Any chance (don't hit me!) that you might be pg again?
Are you eating and drinking enough yourself?

Heat and humidity definitely influences the milk your body produces for your baby, and it also responds to their varying needs at certain ages and changing habits.

Some women do find that a lot of foremilk does upset babes tummy though, so a technique I found useful was called 'block feeding'... for say a 3-4 hour period all feeds are on one breast only, and then switch to the other breast and do the same, in combination with perhaps offering a little more often than usual.

busymum wrote: Any chance (don't hit me!) that you might be pg again?

Yikes! I hope not! We've been careful (on the few times I can count on one hand with spare fingers), so it's unlikely. Am eating plenty and not exercising too much.

I was going to say it almost looks like a more watery colostrum.

I dunno, to me it seems like he's barely drinking anything at all - having very short feeds every 3 hours. I have my usual strong let down and then all of a sudden it's all over and there seems to be nothing left except this watery stuff. In maybe less than 2 - 3 minutes? I seem to be having a hard time keeping it flowing.

Ollie seems happy between feeds, though he is only taking short sleeps. It may be that he's more efficient, but the change is pretty drastic.

Hopefully I don't have another supply issue (though it seems different from last time). Might do some pumping and see what happens.

Thanks for all your replies guys. I am sure it will work itself out one way or another.

HippyMama wrote: Some women do find that a lot of foremilk does upset babes tummy though, so a technique I found useful was called 'block feeding'... for say a 3-4 hour period all feeds are on one breast only, and then switch to the other breast and do the same, in combination with perhaps offering a little more often than usual.

Sorry, I am a bit rubbish at reading and replying properly!!

Unfortunately, particularly at the moment, Ollie is not happy on one breast so I use both at each feeding. And he's like his big brother in that he's impatient and doesn't like hanging around being made to work hard for his milk, so I do end up swapping him back and forth a couple of times during a feed to maintain his interest. Thankfully so far he's not seemed particularly gassy and his poos are still a nice yellow colour. Though I wouldn't doubt he takes in more foremilk and less hindmilk than he *probably* should, it hasn't seemed to affect him too much so far.

Thanks again for all the replies - even if I haven't quoted you individually!